Gartner Research

Gartner Survey Finds Importance of Customer Experience on the Rise — Marketing Is on the Hook

Published: 29 September 2014

ID: G00265875

Analyst(s):
Jake Sorofman
,
Laura McLellan

Summary

Growing competition and consumer power have eroded traditional product-based advantages, forcing organizations to shift to a new battlefield: the customer experience. Marketing leaders are expected to create exceptional branded moments at every customer touchpoint.

Table Of Contents

Survey Objective

Data Insights

Key Finding: Eighty-nine percent of companies surveyed plan to compete primarily on the basis of the customer experience by 2016

Key Finding: Fewer than half of companies surveyed rate their customer experience as exceptional today, but two-thirds expect it to be so in two years

Key Finding: Sixty-five percent of companies surveyed have the equivalent of a chief customer officer — they report equally to the CMO and CEO

Key Finding: Customer executives are expected to lead a closed-loop system of insight and action, where customer data drives multichannel customer experiences

Key Finding: Marketing controls the majority of the customer experience budget in more than half of the surveyed companies

Key Finding: Although people are rated the top priority for improving the customer experience, the top investments and growth are in technology